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So I took a few photos of the stages I took when doing my cloak freehand. I know I'm not the best at freehand, far from it. But I still feel I have the some valid points as to approaching it.

The first thing I do is plan it out, even if I'm copying something I would normally draw it a few times with pencil and paper. This gives me an idea of what's possible and what's going to be hard.

I then make sure the whole area around is done, in this case that the cloak was almost finished. You don't want to be fiddling around with that once your nice freehand is done.

Pay loads of attention to your paint thickness. The thinner the paint, the easier it is going to be the neaten mistakes as it won't build up badly and retain smoothness. In contrast, the thicker the paint the more control with is obviously needed in intricate designs. As a rule, I map out the freehand with very thin paint, 70/30 water paint. When I come to doing the really fine stuff, it's more like 40/60 water to paint.


So below is me starting to map out the design. Im using a thin mix of mournfang brown and snakebite leather as it is going to be gold. It's hard to see, but on the arrow at the bottom you can see 3 dots which mark out the point. This makes it was easier judging proportions and symmetry. This I the hardest bit, as if your design is off, it's gonna look wrong no matter how nice your highlights are. Use thin paint, and have your base coat mix on standby. I have my black mix ready and just keep tweaking shapes until I'm fairly happy.



First layer of highlights, snakebite with a touch of Balor brown and bleached bone. With cloaks you have the added challenge of adding highlights to the folds, but this makes it kind of easier to define you light points. Notice how the line are thinner where I neatened up from the last photo. It's often easier to get fine lines this way.



Next I added the wreath. Paint the stalk first, assuring symmetry and a guide for each leaf. The leaves can be quite chunky, as you are going to highlight the tips.



Next I highlighted the leaves, keeping these as thin as possible. I tackled each one individually, correcting mistakes and having second attempts as I went. The. The very tips had a little highlight. Then added more bone to my gold mix.



And here is the stage I'm up to I added Vallejo ivory to my gold mix and it's really popped. I'm going to leave this at this point and come back to it next session with fresh eyes. I will neaten up mistakes and make it much neater. Also tempted to brighten up the leaves one as the gold ended up quite bright.






Look forward to seeing what you guys think, should have this finished next session.

Very nice tutorial, really shows off the skill and technique!

Looks awesome. Can you tell us which paints and ratios for each photo? In the final photo are you highlighting with straight Ivory?

Been told the photos are a little dark on some screens, I admit my brightness is on full so maybe why. How are these?





The mixes are roughly:

Gold
Mournfang / snakebite 40/60
Snakebite/ushabti 80/20
Snakebite/ushabti/balor 50/40/10
Previous mix /Vallejo ivory 70/30, few spots with more ivory

No pure ivory

Leaves
War boss green /caliban green 70/30
Warboss/ivory 90/10
Warboss/ivory 70/30
War boss ivory 50/50

Thanks!

So my aim of turning this model around in a week has gone completely out the window but I’m not worried as it’s turning out better then I thought so I’m happy to spend the extra time making sure its nice and neat. Only had 90 mins to paint and decided to try and paint the sword arm....stupid idea! Ended up getting it “finished” in the time but on reflection its a little sloppy. However the base work is done and it shouldn’t take much time to sharpen up those wobbly highlights (note consume less coffee for neat results!)




Quite happy with the contrast of the magenta against the jade green, however I’m contemplating whether is ties in with the other red elements. I used the same red but with white highlights (creating pink) as opposed to orange in the others. What do you guys think of the overall colour balance?



Quite happy with the reflection affect going on in the legs in this photo, an angle I havent photographed this model from yet. What i have noticed is my slight inconsistencies in my NMM gold as so far I have done it 3 times.



Anyway theres my ramblings over, looking forward to any thoughts and comments,


Andy

That's one of the best power swords I've seen, amazing work!

I would love to know where you think you have made errors

Would you mind sharing your fantastic green recipe I was thinking about picking up a Loken to work on but the thought of trying to paint the right shade of green scares me

Skillingspree wrote:
Would you mind sharing your fantastic green recipe I was thinking about picking up a Loken to work on but the thought of trying to paint the right shade of green scares me

Of course, Its just kabalite green, shaded with kabalite and vallejo air black, then sybarite green and some vallejo ivory! I wasn't at all sure myself. Id just base coat to kabalite then keep adding sybarite until you are happy. Add some ivory if you want some really bright highlights! in hind sight I'm not sure if i went a little bright but hey ho. Let me know how you get on with him.

andy

Thank you so much! When you say sybarite green and vallejo ivory, is that mixed or separately?

No pure ivory, sybarite is pretty bright so a touch of Ivory is just for the reflection spots and harsh highlights. I spend a long time going from kabalite to sybarite (maybe 8-10 layers?) then once up to pure kabalite cut in with the brighter mix of ivory sybarite with nice straight thin 'n sharp lines! Hope that helps, let me know!!

That helps a lot thanks

Love the sword not being the same red as the rest of the model. Really fantastic work. Would love to see your stuff face-to-face. You're not anywhere near Portsmouth are you?
If not, will you enter your models at Salute next year?

 bubber wrote:
Love the sword not being the same red as the rest of the model. Really fantastic work. Would love to see your stuff face-to-face. You're not anywhere near Portsmouth are you?
If not, will you enter your models at Salute next year?

Thanks a lot, I was un sure so thanks for the clarification! I'm in bath so not too far. I'd say this guy looks better in the flesh especially the freehands. As for salute, I will definitely attend! I've never entered a painting comp so I'm looking to improve and start entering them.
My friend last year forced me to put something into GD but I had nothing, I entered a model I really was not proud of as I did it over just 3 evenings. To my surprise I got a finalist medal in single 40k which absolutely shocked me and made my day. Since that I've really focused on getting better and wanted to have a proper stab at GD, and although I'm not up to the standard yet I know I've improved hugely and I will be proud of my entries. I've spent an entire year on 4 entries (this not being one of them) and there's rumours going round there is no gamesday!! I do want this cleared up as it's all I've been working towards for the past 10 months!

I have heard the GD judges are a bit clique-e and no a few of the painters on the competition circuit. Sometimes when I look at the models that have won or placed, I wonder what the heck and the rumour seems more feasible. Just trying to say, if you don't succeed at GD, try other shows.
CMON can be a brutal as well.
IE Stick to Dakka Dakka!
Would be great to see your work at Salute.

So I finally got to the point I've been waiting for and glued the cloak to the main body. I would say he is 95% finished as I still want to go back and add further highlights and neaten up mistakes, Im just fed up of looking at it now so i need a couple days off to finish! I added some further white highlights to some of the gold and green, its popped so much that I want to go over the rest and make it feel the same. Im happy with the base although I am totally aware inclusion of both flowers and leaves may be a bit OTT but I just like the details!! I took the photos under natural light so the colours are true to how it looks in the flesh. The photo look fine on my computer but if they are a little small or dark let me know. Anyway see what you guys think.

Simply superb.

 bubber wrote:
Simply superb.

This. 11/10 stuff.

Time well spent if you ask me. Your painting skillz > mine!

he looks great. Please please please, can you tell me your green recipe?

 Paradigm wrote:

 bubber wrote:
Simply superb.

This. 11/10 stuff.

Thanks a lot dudes, its been fun sharing this little project on here and it did help me push it!


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Dr. Bizarre wrote:
he looks great. Please please please, can you tell me your green recipe?

Thanks buddy of course!!



Base Kabalite
Shade Kabalite and air black
Blend Kabalite uo to pure syberite
2 Highlights of sybarite and ivory, but no pure ivory
Pure white

You got any sons of horus lined up??

Finished this guy last month, wanting to pick up some tactical marines from FW, and start a little force. Been wracking my brain for a nice sea green. Yours is perfect.


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http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/599690.page#6922405

Dr. Bizarre wrote:
Finished this guy last month, wanting to pick up some tactical marines from FW, and start a little force. Been wracking my brain for a nice sea green. Yours is perfect.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/599690.page#6922405

oooooo nice Horus!!! He is on my to do list for sure but have too many other things in the que. How did you find painting him? Im glad you like the green as I wasn't sure myself, I looked at loads of horus models half way through mine and wondered If i had gone too far away from the intended palette, most seem to be a chalkier green.

Most enjoyable mini I've ever done to be honest. Very challenging though. There doesn't seem to be a set colour for SoH armour, other than "pale sea green". Yours is closest to the vision on my head though.

FW have a mix on their website as well:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/downloads/product/pdf/h/Horus_Heresy_Painting_Guide.pdf
Don't know it this is with the new colours or old though.

Absolutely beautiful work. That freehand is jaw droppingly outstanding!

 Medium of Death wrote:
Absolutely beautiful work. That freehand is jaw droppingly outstanding!

Thanks a lot man, this model was all about getting in the groove of free hands and I'm glad people like it. I'm working on a blood angels banner at the moment and I'll be sure to post it up!

If you read the opening part of this little blog, I said i was painting this loken as a practice to a banner i had planned. So i thought id post the banner in question here for anybody interested. He's 90% done

Well, the practice was worth it! Stunning work.